Donald Trump has launched legal action against the Labour Party after accusing them of ‘blatant foreign interference’ in the US election.
In a legal complaint which cites the American Revolution and misspells ‘Britain’, the Republican nominee has suggested the ‘far-left’ party is helping spread ‘dangerously liberal policies’ in the run-up to polling day.
Trump also filed a complaint to the independent Federal Election Commission alleging ‘illegal foreign campaign contributions and interference’ from the Labour Party, citing a LinkedIn post from a Labour official in which they offered to send around 100 activists to swing states in the US to campaign for Harris and ‘sort out’ their housing.
The now-deleted post, from Labour’s Head of Operations Sofia Patel said: ‘I have nearly 100 Labour Party staff (current and former) going to the US in the next few weeks heading to North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia. I have 10 spots available for anyone available to head to the battleground state of North Carolina- we will sort your housing.’
Under US electoral law, foreign volunteers are forbidden to spend more than $1,000 (£770) helping candidates, and Trump’s lawyers claim the offer to pay for accommodation counts as interference from a foreign party and has demanded an ‘immediate investigation’ into the claim.
‘When representatives of the British government previously sought to go door-to-door in America, it did not end well for them,’ Trump’s lawyer wrote in a complaint to the Federal Elections commission.
‘This past week marked the 243 anniversary of the surrender of British forces at the Battle of Yorktown, a military victory that ensured that the United States would be politically independent of Great Britian.1 It appears that the Labour Party and the Harris for President campaign have forgotten the message,’ they added, misspelling ‘Britain’ in the process.
‘Those searching for foreign interference in our elections need to look no further than [the] LinkedIn post. ‘The interference is occurring in plain sight.’
Also included in the filing are claims from the Washington Post that ‘strategists linked to Britain’s Labour Party have been offering advice to Kamala Harris about how to earn back disaffected voters and run a winning campaign from the centre left.’
A report from the Telegraph, in which it is suggested that Morgan McSweeney, Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, and Matthew Doyle, his director of communications, ‘attended a convention in Chicago and met with Ms Harris’s campaign team’, is also cited.
In addition to forbidding financial contributions, US law prohibits foreign nationals from participating in decisions involving election-related activities.
However, they are allowed to volunteer in campaigns ‘as long as the individual is not compensated by anyone for the services’.
Keir Starmer has insisted the volunteers would only be travelling in a ‘personal capacity’ rather than as part of an official Labour contingency.
‘The Labour Party has volunteers, who have gone over pretty much every election,’ Starmer told reporters on his 28-hour flight for the annual Commonwealth leaders’ summit in Samoa.
‘They’re doing it in their spare time, they’re doing it as volunteers, they’re staying, I think, with other volunteers over there. That’s what they’ve done in previous elections, that’s what they’re doing in this election and that’s really straightforward.’
‘We had a good constructive discussion and, of course as prime minister of the United Kingdom I will work with whoever the American people return as their President in their elections, which are very close now.’
Despite the furore this is not is not the first time Labour and Tory staff have got involved in US elections, with politicians from both countries frequently getting involved in each other’s electoral campaigns.
Two former advisors to Barack Obama played important roles in the 2015 election, with David Axelrod assisting Ed Miliband’s campaign while Jim Messina worked with the Tories.
Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders’ supporters also swapped strategies and assisted eachother in an informal capacity, although no senior members from either team ever met up officially.
More recently, Liz Truss has been courting support from Trump supporters by endorsing him at the Republican National Convention, while Nigel Farage has been a longtime ally of the former president.
Starmer also insisted he had ‘established a good relationship’ with Trump after having dinner with him during a recent trip to New York which would not be jeopardised by the claim.
Starmer has never met Kamala Harris, but has met with President Biden on a number of occasions since becoming prime minister in July.
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